Sutton Benger Post Office is to get a new home, where it will open as a local-style branch with longer opening hours.

The Post Office announced today that the new branch will be at The Bell Inn Hotel, 47 High Street, in a separate unit adjacent to the hotel alongside a coffee shop.

This is 160 metres from its current site at 26 High Street, Sutton Benger.

Post Office local is a new concept for delivering Post Office services and the new Sutton Benger Post Office will have an open-plan till at the retail counter where Post Office products and services will be available alongside retail transactions throughout shop opening hours.

Post Office customers will benefit from opening hours being extended to 64 hours a week.

The branch will open Monday to Saturday, 8am-6pm; Sunday: 9am-1pm; and will no longer close at lunchtimes.

The present Sutton Benger Post Office will close on Saturday, April 12, at 12.30pm with the new branch at The Bell Inn Hotel due to open on Monday, April 14, at 1pm.

The nearest alternative Post Office is at Fourway Stores, Great Somerford.

The move is part of major modernisation programme across the Post Office network designed to make it easier for customers to do business, through longer opening hours and modern open plan environments.

Will Russell, Post Office Regional Network Manager for England South, said: “We understand how important having a Post Office is to residents in Sutton Benger and we are confident this new modern Post Office service will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future.

"This modernisation is part of a major investment programme, the largest in the history of the Post Office and marks a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.”

Under the current Parliament the Government has committed £1.34bn for the Post Office network to make sure there is no programme of Post Office closures and to update branches; in November the Government announced a further £640m investment in the Post Office network, from 2015 to 2018.

Up to 8,000 branches will be modernised nationally with additional investment in over 3,000 community and outreach branches.

The Post Office, now independent of Royal Mail, is the largest retail network in the UK with over 11,500 branches. It is also one of the fastest growing financial services companies.